April 1, 2016.

20% of young people think that you can catch AIDS by kissing someone. This is what a survey reveals on the knowledge that young people aged 18 to 24 have of the disease, which concerns 150,000 infected people in France, and their relatives.

14% of young people think the pill protects against AIDS

The survey carried out by Ifop at the start of the year is worrying, because it shows how ignorant young people are about the transmission of AIDS. Thereby, 15% of people questioned (out of a representative panel of 1,000 young people) think that the virus can be transmitted by sitting on a toilet seat. Likewise, 20% think that kissing an HIV-positive person can contaminate (which is nevertheless exceptionally possible in the event of oral lesions in healthy people). Finally, 13% think that AIDS can be caught by drinking from the same glass as a person with HIV.

AIDS scares only 76% of young people

Even more annoying: AIDS is no longer scary! 25% of the young people questioned are not afraid of the disease, because “we no longer die from it, and it can be treated very well”. Thus, nearly 10% of the young people questioned are aware of having taken risks of contamination several times, and only one in two young people say they have used a condom the last time they have sex. Finally, seropositivity tests have not become commonplace: 45% of young people who have had unprotected sex have had a test carried out after …

Read also: People at risk and risk factors for AIDS / HIV